Lou was active in the management of the family store in Monument, CO from 1900 to 1906 when he moved to Greenland to work in the store there. He did most of the managing of the Greenland store, one of three grocery stores then in the town, after the purchasing of the Greenland Ranch, until the store was sold in 1923.

He served as Post Master of the Greenland Post Office which was located in the back of the store, for several years.

Lou took over the management of the Greenland Ranch after his father's death in 1916 and he was active in its management until his own death December 1966. He served as County Commissioner in Douglas County from 1928 to 1936.

He was influential in getting the Bank of Douglas County started with its doors opening in 1939. He served as its first president. Some of his favorite stories were about living in a tent on the homestead for the first year in Colorado and as serving as janitor of the Eastonville school.

Greenland is in Douglas County and had a Post Office from 1876 to 1959. The Rocky Mountain News reported in 1882 that Greenland was one of the principal towns in Douglas County. It usually appeared on the map as Greenland, although Greenland Ranch was there at the same location. Greenland Ranch was also known as Greenland Land & Cattle Co.

In October 1973, it is reported that Mrs. Jennie E. Higby and her two sons sold the ranch of more than 11,000 acres, along with the livestock, building and equipment for $11.5 million to Greenland Associates, a Denver based investment group. The group of investors seems to have been formed for the purchase of the ranch. It is later reported in the Rocky Mountain Business Journal in 1985 that Greenland Ranch land may sit on top of petroleum reserves. (It was later found to not be petroleum but water which maybe worth more than the petroleum.)

When recession hit the new owners were unable to make the payments on the property and the Higbys foreclosed and took the ranch back. In 1980 the brothers put the property up for sale again. Ownership at this time was the two brothers Louis R. and Charles Higby. Jennie had died. Louis Higby Sr. bought the ranch in 1909.

In the Rocky Mountain News, June 11, 1980 it states that Greenland was "...located halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs. Greenland became a popular overnight stop for stagecoaches. Passengers spent the night in the area's three hotels. Except for the ranch, Greenland has become a "ghost town". Only remains of the hotels, a livery and railroad station stood at the time of this article. Charles Higby moved to Idaho to ranch and Louis Higby lives at the ranch but plans to move once the property is sold."

Greenland continued to appear on maps prior to the interstate system. After Interstate 25 was completed it dropped off the maps. In Place Names in Colorado it show that by 1940 the population of Greenland is 25. It states that Fred Z. Salomon founded Greenland in 1875. The name, Greenland, was suggested by Helen Hunt Jackson, writer and poetess, who was impressed by its surroundings while passing through on the train. It was on the Denver &amp; Rio Grande route. This information was provided to the Colorado Writers' Project of the WPA by Gertrude Frank who was at the time living in Greenland. This information is dated Jan. 29, 1941.

In the 1910 census, Louis and Jennie are living on the Greenland Ranch with Louis' father John Higby.